Moon was habitable once, scientists argue

The study concluded that various environmental conditions could have existed on the Moon, at two points in history.

The research does not say definitively that there was ever life on the Moon, but argues that the conditions which would have made life possible existed there during two different time periods, for tens of millions of years at a time. (Photo: Reuters)

The possibility of life could have existed on the Moon billions of years ago, as per a new study released by the Astrobiology Journal.

The study concluded that various environmental conditions could have existed on the Moon, at two points in history.

Although the research does not say that there was ever life on the Moon surely but contested that Moon's conditions tens of millions of years at a time would have made life possible there.

"If liquid water and a significant atmosphere were present on the early moon for long periods of time, we think the lunar surface would have been at least transiently habitable," Dirk Schulze-Makuch, co-author of the study and a Washington State University astrobiologist, told RT.

The previous discoveries said that Moon wasn't as dry as it was and claimed there was a chance that ice or water may be trapped within Moon's lunar poles. But according to this new study, there could be a significant amount of water on the surface of the Moon as well.

The first event to create a habitable environment on the Moon could be four billion years ago when a proto-Earth collided with some other body and ended up forming the Earth and the Moon.

The second event could be 500 million years later when an increase in lunar volcanic activity could have created habitable conditions on the Moon. In fact, liquid water could have been present on the surface of the Moon for about 70 million years, according to the study.

However, there are still doubts about the presence of life on the moon. The authors said that only a thorough lunar exploration could prove whether Moon had a possibility of life or not.

The study also said that life on Moon could have evolved through meteorites which landed on the surface of the moon. There is a chance that microorganisms could have survived the journey and evolved into different life forms later.

But the authors of the study contested that these organisms may have died by now due to solar wind, radiations etc.